As I sit here tonight and write this post I am waiting for the final update that my cousin had her baby. She has been in labor most of the day and it is 11:30 pm now. A fitting time to write this post about the quilt I made her baby.
When my mom was alive she made special quilt and projects and it seemed she made things to be used and never just to sit on a shelf or put away. Her way of showing people that she loved them was to make them a quilted Christmas tree skirt. Mine comes out and we use it every year, in between I keep it put away carefully so I can have a little touch of my mom at every Christmas.
Showing my love for my family is important to me. So, I wanted to make a few baby quilts for my cousins who are due with new babies. I thought it was fitting to show my love for them by a baby quilt for the new editions.
I have never made a quilt before so I knew that I needed to do some reading, research and shopping. Talking to them I asked what the nursery themes were going to be so that at least the quilts would match.
This is my first one.
She wanted a bohemian boy theme with mints and grays as well as the woodland creatures. I found on Etsy some fabric that was these things wrapped into one.
It was lucky that the fabrics were all together and already matched, it is not one of my strong suites to match colors.
Basically what I did was take all of the fabric and cut different widths of strips. Trying to keep the animal’s whole body intact so that it was somewhat cohesive. Some of them I was successful at and some I was not. Looking back I wish I would have mixed up the colors a bit better. I made the quilt top, bought a crib size batting package and some backing pin basted it together and started sewing it all together.
Then I found out about Free Motion Quilting and watched a few videos, I figured why not I will try it, so I made my first quilt top, and my first quilt while using free motion quilting for the first time. So much fun! If you have not done it check into some videos on YouTube and just go for it. It was a great and relaxing time.
The Final Result!
Have you made a quilt before? Did you love it or hate it? I would love to hear all about it in the comments, and keep your eyes peeled for my next one with polar bears!
Christy Peeples DuBois says
July 29, 2017 at 10:31 pmYour baby quilt turned out so well. I do not quilt yet anyway but my Mama has made so so many quilts over the last year and a half or so.
Mama has always been talented when it comes to sewing, crocheting, making quilts etc but she has always quilted them by hand until this past year. She watched videos as you suggested and also took a class on free motion quilting and that’s pretty much how she quilts now. She has made so many pretty quilts. I may email you a picture of a cross quilt she made that is gorgeous.
I wanted to comment since this is your first quilt and you did it free motion and what an excellent job you did.
Hope you are having a good week end.
Lina says
July 25, 2017 at 5:34 amCongratulations on your first quilt! Thanks for sharing it at Sew It Cook It Craft It.
Mary says
July 21, 2017 at 11:43 amThis is so beautiful. I can’t believe you had never done a quilt before, You did an incredible job!
Roseann Hampton says
July 17, 2017 at 6:30 pmGreat job on your quilt! I’ve made quite a few quilts but have never done any free motion quilting. I am actually going to give it a try on the edging of the quilt I’m making right now. I hope it turns out as well as yours!
Kathi says
July 13, 2017 at 6:03 pmThat’s beautiful! You did so well on your first attempt! I’m making four crib quilts this year (one is finished and sent, one top is finished, and I’m working on the third top). I’ve always quilted them by hand but it’s too hard now for my hands and eyes to do that, so I want to do them on my machine. I’m just not brave enough to get started on the quilting…